


Shelter

by AndyAO3



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chapter 7 got feelsy on me so consider this fair warning, Disabled Character, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Genji and McCree as Youtubers, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:44:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9258446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyAO3/pseuds/AndyAO3
Summary: Just two clever, charismatic guys and their silly little Youtube channel. If nothing else, at least they seem to be enjoying themselves.





	1. [welcome to the channel!!]

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so before we start I'd like to note that the idea behind this was originally an angsty catharsis one, so if later on the fic gets feelsy, y'all know why. Otherwise I'll probably keep things mostly upbeat, positive, and silly. This is a serious departure from my usual tone and style, so, for those of you who are reading? Thanks. I love all of you, and I'm glad you could join me in this silly, experimental little romp.
> 
> I don't know how many chapters this is going to have. I have this intro plus two more already written, and ideas for a whole bunch more later. Put things in the comments for the boys to respond to if you like, hell you can even get creative with 'em, maybe if I get enough of them I'll even make a Reading Your Comments kind of deal (just make sure to indicate clearly that it IS a comment meant for the boys).
> 
> I hope this is as much fun to read as it was for me to write, ahaha.

At a glance, it's just a Youtube channel.

The banner across the top is a piece of art done in an imitation of the _ukiyo-e_ style. It depicts a scruffy man in a cowboy hat and red serape smoking a cigar next to a green-haired samurai dressed in black, with the Grand Canyon as a striking backdrop. Links to social media and are sprinkled across the bottom of the image like breadcrumbs, a trail for a curious viewer to follow should they so choose. To the right of the page, the listing of people that this Youtuber is subscribed to is labelled "The BF and BFFs" and has quite the variety of links to poke at, from speedpaints to gaming to cosmetics tutorials.

It's competently put together, as channels go; there's a number of playlists displayed in both side-scrolling and grid-based styles, ordered last-to-first in most cases. These are labelled clearly as Monday Rants and Vlogs, Game Time, Challenge Accepted, and Collabs. Meanwhile, a side-scrolling list at the bottom shows several more playlists as compilations of multiple videos centered on the game or game franchise they came from, ordered first-to-last for archival and binge watching purposes.

And as for those who aren't subscribed to the channel, they get a little bonus video to reel them in.

"Howdy folks. The name's Jesse McCree, and this here's my channel."

It looks promising from the start, the video of a scruffy, deeply tanned young man in a red flannel shirt over the top of a Red Dead Redemption tee having crisp video quality and even crisper audio quality as it begins to the tune of something chipper and retro. Clean, smooth edits take the viewer through a number of short clips after the initial statement: footage of a flubbed blink in Dishonored, a nearly-muted clip of mad desk-slapping cackling over harassing NPCs as a literal whale in GTA, a meticulously crafted Minecraft treehouse being set on fire with a bucket of lava. This mini-montage ends on a high note with a video clip of Jesse with his leg propped up on his desk, pant leg rolled up to his knee, as a green-haired young man rips off a waxing strip; the circumstances aren't explained, but the comedic timing of Jesse yowling about it is perfect.

Then the video cuts back to Jesse speaking, grinning crookedly. "This right here is where I post my videos about games," here, there is a clip of facecam-included Silent Hills PT with both Jesse and the green-haired man screaming, "music," a clip with no audio of Jesse sitting with an acoustic guitar in his lap, "and anythin' else that springs t'mind."

His statement finishes with a clip of Jesse grinning stupidly with what has to be half the contents of a bag of jumbo marshmallows jammed into his mouth at once. This is clearly not a serious channel.

"I run this channel with my boyfriend Genji," there is a brief clip of the green-haired man in an oversized sweater beaming and waving enthusiastically at the camera, "who's got a channel of his own if you'd like t'see more of us two bein' nerds together. Or, y'know, if you wanna see more of him in general. Can't say as I'd blame ya, he's real cute."

The chirpy background music pauses for a moment. "Stop calling me cute!" comes a yell from offscreen, possibly even from another room entirely, faintly accented and distinctly pouty. Jesse doesn't take his eyes of the camera, merely grinning and waggling his eyebrows; afterwards, the music resumes.

"Links in the description for his channel, both our social media, 'n my alternate channel where I put my, uh, embarrassin' attempts at playin' guitar." A clip is included of something that's obviously a blooper from said guitar-playing, where trying to tune out a sour note ends in one of the strings springing free of the fretboard with a _twang_ , and Jesse gives it about the same deadpan look that one might give a cat that just blarfed in their shoe. "If y'see somethin' you like, go ahead'n subscribe. Tell a friend. We've even got a patreon if you're feelin' generous."

For a few seconds, the viewer is treated to a clip of Jesse sitting slumped in his chair, staring blank-eyed at his screen, and the aforementioned boyfriend standing over him and poking him in the leg with a crutch. True, it's not obvious that the green-haired man is the one doing the poking - his face isn't visible from that angle - but the hands and the oversized sweater are obviously the same, so the connection isn't too hard to make.

"Either way, that's all for this one." Jesse throws a wink and a lazy two-fingered salute to the camera. "Y'all stay good to each other now."

On that note, the video ends-- another video on another channel, likely to be lost in a sea of other such videos on other such channels and quickly forgotten.


	2. [game time: stardew valley, ep. 12]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's really easy to see who the powergamer is in this relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder to leave comments for the boys, 'cause I might just have the boys read 'em later. :3
> 
> I thought about editing this one to have a bigger ending but ehhhh, I just wanna keep going. ONWARDS.

"Howdy folks, welcome to game time with Jesse. An' this here li'l treasure of a game is called Stardew Valley."

The facecam in the upper left corner of the screen depicts one distinctly scruffy Jesse McCree, idly spinning his chair back and forth as he works an N7 hoodie over his shoulders. He scoots in towards the desk just as he finishes his opening statement, the cursor moving in sync with him reaching for his mouse.

"Now where the hell's the volume-- ahh, there we go." A moment of fiddling and he manages to turn down the ingame music's volume to a level that's listenable. "Last time we left off on this here game, I believe we were makin' progress in the caves now we've got the farmin' milestones mostly done."

He selects a save where the farmer's name is Potato and the farm is called Bumfuck Nowhere Farm, with a little over 2,000g in ingame currency. (Another save exists where the farmer's name is GenG and the farm is called Farm Farm, with over 60,000g in ingame currency. No explanation is given in regards to this save.)

The game starts to the tune of lazy synthesized country-style guitar and a rooster crowing. "Lessee here, do an inventory'a what we got-- yeah, hi Sebastian, you got anythin' worth listenin' to--awww, he hugged me."

Jesse is nothing if not a sucker for cute things in games.

"Aight, we got food, we got our pickaxe, got our _sword_ ," he pronounces the word _sword_ like the 'w' is supposed to be emphasized, and is definitely doing so on purpose, "got uh, hell. I forget, do I gotta water trees? I ain't too sure-- ooh, guess not, they're still growin'."

Many people in the comments feel the need to note that trees don't grow to their full height when jammed together up against other trees. Replies to said comments note that Jesse addressed this in a later video, stating that yes, he knows, and yes, he left it that way on purpose in later videos to get folks riled up. More mumbling to himself ensues as he pokes his head in the chicken coop, dutifully making sure there's enough feed to go around. Actually getting to the chicken coop requires some navigation, however, because at least three quarters of his farm is trees.

He chops down precisely none of them.

Going into town, Jesse makes sure to talk to all the locals except for the wizard. He goes through the ritual of gifting all of them something they can mostly-tolerate, as dictated by the wiki pulled up on his phone (which he's seen glancing at frequently on facecam). He puts on a voice for every NPC he talks to, sometimes wondering aloud what they're doing when he's not looking ("so about them suspect undergarments we found a couple episodes back on Marnie's floor...") and being polite to all the ones that aren't Pam or Alex, whom he doesn't know by name until he clicks on them.

On the way up to the caves, he gets lost twice. One of these times, he winds up at the train tracks, where he hacks away at some grass and finds a handful of mixed seeds. It's almost noon ingame by the time he actually gets to the caves, and the first row of his inventory is half-full of berries and other such things he picked up along the way. He is a very easily distracted sort of gamer.

"Well now, here we are at the caves an' it's almost high noon already. We got our hat, we got our weapon, we got us some nice boots. Last I remember, we were down at around level eighty-nine or so. So let's see if we can work our way up to a nice, even ninety or so, shall we?"

And because killing things is apparently more of a grind than talking to every NPC within a hundred square miles, the next bit is a montage. Why? Because to Jesse, montages are more interesting than straight-up cuts. The footage is sped up, yet somehow gives the impression of matching the beat of the song (the original version of "Gourmet Race" from Kirby Super Star). There's no audio from either the game itself or from Jesse, likely because at the rate it's been edited to play at, it would sound pretty damn awful.

The music pauses, as does the game; focus is given to the facecam as everything returns to normal speed, Genji coming into frame with his crutches and pulling up a chair. "Well hey there, darlin'," Jesse says, assisting with the chair.

"Mm," Genji acknowledges. He pulls a can of Coke out of his pants pocket as he sits down, leaning his crutches against the desk. A wave is offered to the camera seemingly out of habit as he peers at the screen. "Ah, that Definitely Not Harvest Moon game," he says with a sage nod.

"It ain't Harvest Moon," Jesse insists.

"With Link's Awakening thrown in," Genji continues as he cracks open the can of Coke, "and some Minecraft."

"Imitation's the sincerest form'a flattery, y'know."

"So then most American game companies are just trying to flirt with each other these days?"

Jesse has no response to this other than to give Genji a strange look, and thus the music starts back up where it left off and the montage begins anew. Through the facecam, one can occasionally see Jesse glancing at his phone for directions and Genji leaning forward to point things out, though it's hard to spot for how sped up it is. Level after level is cleared; level ninety is reached, then blown past.

Another pause. "I can't believe how quickly you take damage," Genji says. "You're so bad at this."

"Not all of us have spent years playin' bullet hell games, sweetheart," Jesse replies.

Genji levels a stern look at Jesse, who offers a shit-eating grin in turn. The game resumes.

It's true that Jesse isn't great at games, but he isn't bad either. In the time allotted, he reaches level ninety-five, where the next checkpoint is. In-game it's eleven o'clock at night by the time they get there, but they apparently decide to keep going. (There's another very brief pause in the action where Genji mumbles "watch the time" and Jesse responds by rolling his eyes, apparently ignoring him.)

The in-game deadline to get to bed doesn't so much creep up on them as it does smack them in the face; the music trails off as Jesse loses control of his character, and he's frowning deeply at the screen when he does.

"Why can't I-- oh. OH." He lifts his hands off the controls for a moment. "Well alright then."

"I told you to watch the time."

"Yeah but there's them li'l mine-carts, y'know? I figured I could get back, but I think I mighta been an hour off about what time the day ends, so..."

"At least you didn't die. You lose items if you do that."

"Y'do? Well hot damn, guess it's a good thing I got all them berries along the way after all."

"Berries you can't sell, because you ate them. Because you can't avoid attacks and you're using a cheap pick." The new day begins in-game, and whatever thought Genji was holding onto stalls as Jesse begins his morning routine and Genji sees the state of his farm. "I. Ah."

Jesse frowns. "What?"

"That. Is a lot of trees."

"Yeah, they're good money."

"I-- if you say so."

"Why, what's your farm look like?"

Genji blinks. "You wish to see?"

"Sure." Jesse scoots his chair aside, then assists in helping Genji scoot his own chair over. This seems to be a thing they have a lot of practice with. Once he's properly in front of the computer, Genji winks at the camera and blows it a kiss; he's quick to save and close out of Jesse's save, swapping to the GenG save without so much as a hint of hesitation. No having to re-orient himself to the controls, no nothing. His avatar has green hair with a bow on its head, whereas Jesse's avatar was composed mostly of cowboy hat.

His farm is a meticulous, careful grid of sprinklers, crops, scarecrows, and pathways. He has every building, his fridge is well-stocked, and he has multiple storage boxes in his house. All of his tools are made of iridium. The social menu indicates that he is dating all twelve available NPCs while being married to none of them.

"I'm not sure whether to be impressed or terrified," Jesse mumbles. "Maybe we should be watchin' your playthrough instead."

Genji just laughs.

The rest of the episode is spent carving out the words _HANZO SUCKS_ in the ground with a hoe in the southernmost part of his farm while he and Jesse quote Metal Gear Solid and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure at each other, and a good time is had by all.

(Except Hanzo, who complains in the comments.)

 


	3. [game time: vietnamese pokemon crystal, ep. 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Translation train wreck, anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't heard of this delightful mess of a ROM, you should probably look it up. At least go take a look at the tropes page. It's fantastic.
> 
> No, really. I formatted the lines exactly the way they appear in-game. I can't make this shit up guys

The video opens with a fullscreen version of Jesse's facecam.

"Howdy folks, an' welcome to game time with Jesse. This pretty li'l thing here at my side is my man, Genji--"

"Aw, he thinks I'm pretty," Genji coos, elbows on the desk and chin resting on his hands. It's hard to tell with the desk being in the way, but he seems to be in a wheelchair for this video.

Jesse smiles in the middle of his intro, pauses, continues; "--an' this here game we're gonna be playin' is known to the internet as Vietnamese Crystal."

"It took half an hour for us to get the emulator to work," Genji notes. "We had to test it on a ROM of the original Crystal."

"Yeah, we're goin' into this pretty much blind. Got no idea what to expect, aside from it apparently bein' a bootleg of a bootleg of a bootleg. Japanese to Chinese to Vietnamese to English, 'least that's how the story goes."

"Both of us have played the original, though. And if all else fails, I have my phone. We can look it up." Genji shifts, one hand moving to tap the desk with a nicely manicured fingernail. "If necessary."

"So without further ado--" the facecam moves to the upper right corner of the screen, a strip of blank space underneath it as the game boots up in glorious non-widescreen. The standard intro begins, with the Unowns and the Suicune, the curious Wooper and Pichu poking their heads out of the grass. "--let's begin."

The intro plays out as normal. The music is untouched, nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing that seems off is the title screen, reading Pocket Monsters instead of Pokemon-- and Jesse's the only one who seems to notice anything off about that, because it looks perfectly normal from Genji's perspective.

>START  
>CHANGE

"Uhhh. Izzat--" Jesse looks to his boyfriend, who merely shrugs. "A'ight, 'start' I guess."

ARE YOU A BOY? OR A GIRL?  
>BOY  
>GIR

"Ahh, the age-old question," Genji says.

"Yep. Always wondered whether I might actually be a Jhonen Vasquez character," Jesse agrees with a sage nod. At Genji's blank look, he continues, "--Invader Zim? No?"

"Is this an American thing?"

Jesse shrugs and selects 'BOY'.

WELCOME  
IT'S ELF'S WORLD

"Thaaaat's..." Jesse trails off. Both men look at each other for a long moment.

"A creative interpretation?" Genji suggests.

PLEASE CHECK  
THE TIME  
WHAT TIME IS IT?  
>AF 10H

Genji's head tilts at such an angle that his whole body threatens to follow. "Haaaah?"

"At least it makes sense...? Ish? I mean ain't the second generation the one that started the whole morning/day/night thing?" Jesse is apparently still trying to see reason in the game's madness. "Uhhh, babe what time is it."

"Ten-thirty," Genji tells him after a glance at his phone.

"Aight, sooo..."

WHATAF 10HIN TIME?  
>YES  
>NO

Jesse squints at the screen. "Yyyyyyeeess?"

HOW MANY MINUTES?  
>30M

WHAT!30 M?  
>YES  
>NO

AF 10H30 M  
OH!SLEEP OVER

"It's like, it kinda makes sense? But then it don't make sense no more. An' that's if you ain't stuck on the punctuation an' everythin' bein' capitalized."

"You did say it went through several languages before it got to English. Any one of them could be at fault." Genji pauses. "I still blame English though."

GO TO THE  
ELF'S WORLD  
WELCOME!  
EVERYONE CALL ME  
ELF MONSTER

"Right you are, Professor Oak," Jesse tells the game.

"Okido-sensei," Genji corrects.

"Same thing." The screen shifts to a picture of a pokemon. "Now if I remember right, that's a Wooper."

"Upah." Apparently, this is going to be a thing. At least this one is close enough that Genji shrugs it off. "Not so different."

ELFS,HERE ARE  
CALLED MONSTER  
THEY EXISTED  
EVERYWHERE  
........  
  
THEY PLAY FRIENDLY  
HELP EACH OTHER  
LIVE WITH PEOPLE

"So, for a quick recap," Jesse starts to say as the game continues its nonsensical rambling, "Pokemon exist in a kinda symbiotic relationship with their trainers. From the critter's perspective, havin' a trainer is braggin' rights, it's havin' a friend, it's havin' a warm place to sleep."

"The moral has always been kindness," Genji assures the audience.

"Yeah, that. Please don't send PETA after us." Things go quiet as the game continues, making as little sense as it has the rest of the time. When it comes time to choose a name, however, Jesse is more than a bit put out. "How come I only get five letters?"

Genji rolls his eyes. "Why does your language _need_ more than five letters? I can spell mine in three, and even then I would be writing out all of the individual sounds."

"How many would mine take?"

"Given name? Two. Full name? Five." Genji gestures to the screen. "See? Simple. This problem is the fault of the English language, not the other three."

"But how'm I supposed to call myself somethin' silly now?"

"You could use your real name. That would fit."

Jesse grudgingly uses his real name, and the game continues to make as little sense as possible as it goes through the prologue bits. The two of them encounter such delightful gems as WHAT DON'T STARE ME ALWAYS and I CALL YOU TODAY FOR SOMETHING TO REQUEST YOU, both of which have Jesse cracking up with laughter while Genji is absolutely baffled. Another disagreement pops up when they meet Professor Elm (WUSIJI DR. to the game), whom Genji remembers as Utsugi-sensei.

Then yet another argument happens over the Pokemon themselves.

"So are we goin' for Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile?" Jesse asks.

Genji sighs. "Chikorita, Hinoarashi, Waninoko."

Jesse pretends he didn't hear it. "Guess the real question is whether we want Meganium, Typhlosion, or Feraligatr."

"Meganiumu, Bakufuun, Oodairu."

"You're gonna correct me a lot, ain't'cha."

"I'll stop correcting you when you stop being wrong."

"Either way, we only get five letters to name the dang thing."

Genji sighs, running a hand through his hair. The edge of his oversized sweater's sleeve creeps upward when his arm moves, revealing a patch of discolored scar tissue. "Fire," he says eventually. "Starters are usually male. We can name it after Reyes."

Jesse thinks on that for a second, a slow grin settling onto his face. "Gabe the Typhlosion. Hell, I think it fits."

"His father," Genji tells the viewers.

"Kinda. Long story."

"Longer in English."

"You hush."

Thus begins their Pokemon journey.

 


	4. [monday rant: horror movies >:I ]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse goes on a tangent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING: this chapter discusses horror movie violence, cissexism, and ableism.**
> 
> When you like something, it makes you all the more equipped to criticize the absolute shit out of it. That's where Jesse's at with being a huge nerd who's also a sweetheart, sometimes. And since he has a platform to do it on, well dang it, he's gonna use it. He is a Very Opinionated person.
> 
> All his rants follow this pattern, and he keeps them to one a week so as to not weird people out or make them think that's all he does. I'm not sure whether I want to post this? but it's not a fair representation of how I imagine his channel if I don't tbh. I'll probably only post this one unless it gets positive feedback.
> 
> y'all can skip this chapter if you like, the next one will be back to being silly again.

"Howdy folks. It's Monday, an' you know what that means: rant time."

Jesse has his feet up on his desk, one leg crossed over the other with his arms folded over his chest as he's leaned back in his chair. The music chosen as a backdrop is a lazy acoustic guitar rendition of "It's Raining Somewhere Else" from Undertale. He rocks his chair to and fro gently as he speaks.

"This week's topic is horror," he says, as the word _horror_ slide-transitions to the bottom of the screen as a caption in a silly, handwriting-esque font, "--the uh, the genre, y'know? Not the word itself. We're gonna talk about what makes horror good, an' what makes horror fuckin' painful to watch sometimes. Even worse when it ain't panned like it should be, god- _damn_."

He shakes his head, sighs, reaches up to gently scritch at his scruff.

"We all know horror's subjective, to an extent. It feeds off'a human instincts, gives us that adrenaline rush we get from bein' scared without actually puttin' us into any danger. That's the fun. It's also a real good look into the human condition, the nastier parts of our psyche. Catharsis for the content producers, a high for the content consumer. Good stuff, right? Except when it ain't."

Jesse's boot taps against the desk a couple times.

"Now I'm nice, so I ain't gonna name any names here, but there's a few things what mighta come out lately that ain't settin' such a good example in the horror genre, an' I don't much care for it. But t' explain why, I gotta get into why bad horror needs t' not be a thing. Y'see, horror as a genre frequently makes monsters outta men, an' it takes advantage'a the fact that fear ain't always rational. Which means sometimes it gets a little... ehhh,"

He gestures vaguely with his hand, an unspoken 'so-and-so' as he tries to find the right words.

"Gross," he finally decides on, pointing at the camera. "That's the word."

Boots come off the desk and Jesse spins his chair a few times as he muses.

"It sticks in folks' brains, y'know? An' that's what makes it fuckin' insidious when it makes a monster outta the wrong kinda person-- it causes people who see it t' instinctively associate that kinda person with a fear response, which throws off their judgment, an' contributes to some real nasty misconceptions that can get real, honest folks pretty badly mistreated."

He stops spinning, coming forward with his elbows to lean against the desk and look at the camera seriously. He's wringing his hands, chewing on his lip. Nervous tics. This is a common occurrance when he rants.

"Let's take somethin' older. Somethin' like... Hitchcock's _Psycho_ , for example." Another scritch of his chin. "You got a guy who kills folks while dressed as a woman-- his mother. What's this mean? It means that people society sees as guys dressed like women - be they in drag or transgender or outside'a the binary entirely or even just a guy that likes to wear skirts from time t' time - will be associated with an incestuous murderer by people who've seen that movie. An' that's so many levels of not right, _so_ fuckin' many. Jesus."

Jesse shakes his head, gathers his wits.

"Then this new movie comes out. A couple, actually. Again, I ain't namin' em, they're new an' I don't wanna get fuckin' sued by nobody. One's got dissociative identity disorder, other's got a blind guy. Two disabilities, two _real common_ disabilities here, folks. Dissociation ain't even fuckin'-- it's a goddamn defense mechanism, man! It's literally built into our fuckin' brains. People who do it a lot, to the point that it's a proper disorder? They're usually victims'a somethin' real fuckin' bad happenin' in their lives. And then there's the one about the blind guy, which is just..."

He smacks his palm against his forehead with a curse, smoothing it down over his face as he sighs and tries to calm himself. This is something he cares about.

"Thing that gets me the most is, good horror exists. We know what makes an experience scary. Have the antagonist be driven by a primal need, like in _The Thing_ or _Alien_ , or have 'em be in a position'a power over the protagonist, like _Outlast_ or the _Saw_ franchise, or have the evil thing be a hurt thing that's justifiably pissed at the world, or have the evil be a part of the self that's just beggin' for some karmic backlash. Any'a that works, man, an' ya ain't gotta be gross about it."

Shifting in his chair uncomfortably, Jesse eventually shrugs it off, throwing his hands up in the air.

"But what do I know? I ain't a screenwriter. I'm just a guy who talks too much on the internet." His hands fall back to the desk as he heaves a sigh. "Sorry. I know I got heavy this week. Sometimes that happens with these things. It's like the country music rant last week, I just get so dang worked up over some shit."

Last week's rant was about how country music had lost its roots. Not because of the music itself, but because the lyrics are shallow, misogynistic garbage. According to Jesse anyway.

"Just, if you see a horror movie about someone bein' a sadistic monster without any redeemin' qualities an' you know for a fact that people who'd count as bein' from the same groups as that monster ain't got a snowball's chance in hell'a fightin' back against it without bein' dismissed outta hand as whiny or overreactive, then take it as a red flag, a'ight?"

He's a very opinionated person.

"Anyway, that's all fer now. Y'all be good to each other now, y'hear?"

With that, the video ends.

 


	5. [challenge: five nights at freddy's 3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse is kind of bad at games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context: the make-up channel mentioned in the intro chapter? That's Genji's. He's the one who does gender neutral make-up tutorials, sometimes dragging Jesse in to show off techniques for darker skintones. Hanzo's an artist who does speedpaints, tutorials, and the occasional stream. 
> 
> They've played other horror games before and been scared by them. Genji wouldn't let Jesse live as a self-proclaimed horror fan without playing the old Fatal Frame or Silent Hill games, and I'm pretty sure Amnesia: The Dark Descent scared the pants off both of 'em the first time they played it. Silent Hills PT probably spooked them pretty hard. Alien: Isolation would've freaked Jesse right the fuck out. But FNAF? Meh. It's just loud.

The video begins with the facecam once again; both Jesse and Genji are visible, the former with a huge grin and the latter with a coy smirk. Both are in regular gaming chairs, and Genji's crutches are leaned against the table. He's wearing one of Jesse's flannel shirts (which is far, far too big for him), while Jesse himself is in a worn black tee with an N7 logo emblazoned across the front.

Also, Genji is holding a plastic cup full of clothespins.

"Howdy folks, what's up? Another Five Nights game came out, an' you know what that means: another challenge." Jesse winks at the camera, beaming. "My name's Jesse, an' this lovely thing here at my side is Genji--"

"You don't have to flirt with me. We're already dating."

"--an' today our challenge is gonna be a simple one. Last time, every time I died I had t' wax somethin', but since this game's apparently a lil' bit on the hard side, we're gonna tone it down just a hair."

"Every time he dies, I put a clothespin on him," Genji explains, holding the cup out to the camera. "He was going to eat wasabi, but I convinced him not to."

"Yeah, Genji here thinks I'm a big ol' wuss."

"It would defeat the purpose if you started crying. You need to still be able to play."

"Just how bad d'you think I'll do, here?"

"It has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with it being wasabi." Genji gestures at the screen with the hand holding the cup. "Go on. Start the game."

Jesse gives his boyfriend a long, hard stare-down before he shakes his head and returns to the mouse and keyboard to open up the game. The facecam shrinks to the corner of the screen as usual, upper left this time, as the rest of the screen is taken up by the opening screen for Five Nights at Freddy's 3. The first Five Nights game led to them being startled, but not particularly scared. The second was where they started doing challenges, leading to the waxing video.

The third now has Genji practically vibrating in his seat as he fiddles with the clothespins and nothing interesting happens for the first night except the phone dude talking.

"This's downright ominous," Jesse murmurs. He glances at Genji and then blinks as he's taken aback. "--why d'you have things on your nose."

Genji smiles. He has a clothespin dangling off of each nostril. "I'm seeing how much it hurts."

"Oookay." A pause. "Does it hurt?"

"No." Genji takes the clothespins off his nose with a shrug and sets them down on the desk. "But my face is more make-up and scar tissue than skin, so I'm not sure it counts."

"Good point." Either Jesse is engrossed in the game, or he's just politely ignoring how Genji takes out a small cosmetics kit to touch up his nose. "Night two, comin' up. Think I'll die?"

"Definitely." The mini-game comes up onscreen and Genji perks up while Jesse frowns at it. "This seems new."

"Yeah. Usually I only got these when I died... Oh hey." Jesse goes back and forth through a few Atari-era rooms. "S'this the first place?"

Genji squints at the screen. "It could be. Oh! What's that purple thing?"

"Looks like the glitched-out shadowy thing we saw in the second one's back room." Jesse gives his boyfriend a glance. "Should I follow it?"

"Don't ask me."

"I'm followin' it."

An error message pops up on screen in bright letters as Jesse keeps going, and Genji peers at it. "This is a terrible idea--Uwah!"

"Whoa-ho-ho, okay then." Jump scare. Again, both startled, but neither scared. Jesse turns to Genji just as the latter is finishing his make-up and putting away the cosmetics kit, letting the phone guy's message drone on. "So. Purple guy?"

"I don't like him. Aren't those supposed to be the souls of dead children in those things?"

"An' he's dismantlin' 'em, yeah. Sounds sketchy t'me." Jesse's attention returns to the screen; he flips through cameras, confused. "Said there's a new animatronic bein' dropped off, wonder where it got off t-- ooh, hellooo there, fella."

It's an animatronic all right. But something about it is wrong. Hell, a lot about it is wrong. It's all torn to pieces, full of holes and gleaming weirdly in the light. Genji recoils from the screen with crinkled features. "I don't like it. It looks like the bunny, but it's the same color as the yellow crash-bear."

"Does that mean it's gonna crash the game when it k-- hold on, it moved, where's it at. Ahah, there you are." Jesse shifts to another camera and clicks the audio button. Moments later, the monster has followed the noise. "Audio sounds like that fuckin' balloon kid that took my damn batteries last time."

Then there's a _clank_ ing sound, and when Jesse looks again the monster's gone. Genji gasps. "Vents."

"Yeah, yeah. Vents, close. I said close. What, can I only close one at a time? That's fuckin' bullsh--"

Both jump a little in their seats when the monster appears, screams, and gives them a game over screen. Neither yells though. They aren't screamers when it comes to this particular series of games. It goes back to the opening screen, with that one lone animatronic staring at them both, and both of them looking at each other on facecam.

"Welp," Jesse says with a shrug. "Guess it's time for that first clip, huh darlin'?"

Genji snickers and plucks one out of the cup. He puts it on Jesse's ear. "There. An easy one first."

"Pinches a little."

"It's going to. It's a clothespin."

The video continues as such for a half hour. By that point, Jesse has amassed fifteen clothespins because he fails at games.

 


	6. [reading your comments! 8DDD]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys read comments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally every single one of these comments was provided by my followers on tumblr when I asked for a realistic Youtube comment section experience. THANK YOU TUMBLR.
> 
> Genji continues his war on the English language's nonsense and what native speakers put him through. Jesse continues his war on everything else and he will fite u.

"Howdy folks. I'm Jesse, an' this here sweet li'l thing is my favorite person in the whole dang world--"

" _Jesse_."

"--Genji. An' today we'll be answerin' all'a y'all's comments."

"Or at least the ones we find interesting."

"Yeah, that."

The facecam takes up the whole video today, with Genji in a baggy grey hoodie with a Foxhound logo from Metal Gear Solid, and Jesse in his favorite red flannel over the top of a Zero Punctuation tee that has the words "Press X To Not Die" on it. A track from the Stardew Valley OST plays in the background, just the faintest murmur of sound; it's a calm little piece called "Summer (The Sun Can Bend an Orange Sky)", with a link provided in the description. Also, today seems to be a crutches day for Genji, and even with his usual level of meticulously applied make-up he still manages to look like he hasn't slept in a while.

"Can't help but notice you're lookin' kinda tired there, darlin'," Jesse notes with a glance in Genji's direction. Genji just sighs, his head drooping as he pinches at the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, one tends to be tired when they've been streaming past seven in the morning."

Jesse smiles, a soft and tender thing. "You coulda asked me t'do it."

"You were asleep. You had been recording all day."

"Still coulda woke me."

"You also suck at Starcraft, and Hana needed a player two."

"Aw." Jesse can't exactly argue that one. Last time he posted a Starcraft video, he blindly agreed to the other player's request to give a twenty minute head start because they were 'new' while he was trying the game out on Genji's account. It didn't end well. "I coulda made you coffee."

Genji chuckles. "Comments, Jesse."

"Fiiiine." Jesse's attention returns to the screen; he cracks his knuckles, cricks his neck, stretches. Then he leans forward to squint at the screen. "First comment's from a 'HarleyDeservesBetter89', hah. Ain't that the truth."

" 'Harley'?"

"Harley Quinn, or uh, Harleen Quinzel. See the icon? It's a Batman reference." Genji's perplexed look probably means that he isn't that familiar with American comic books. "Anyway, she's got a question for you, I think."

"Me? Huh." Genji leans forward to read it aloud. " 'Hey Genji, do you use a wheelchair? I see one sometimes in the vids...' "

"Yeap, that he does. Not all the time, but sometimes. Prob'ly not as often as he should, t'be honest--"

"Hush. I wasn't done." Jesse obediently shuts up, and Genji clears his throat before continuing. " 'I see one sometimes in the vids. What kind is it? Mine's really clunky and hard to use...' " He leans back, thoughtful. "I can't remember exactly, but I can find a link later and put it in the description. It isn't electric, but it folds. Fairly inexpensive, as well."

Jesse nods sagely. "We found it online. Decent reviews. Suits our purposes, but we're still savin' up for a better one all the same."

"Should we link the better one also?"

"I don't see why not. But t'give y'all an idea, the one Genji's got is like, a hundred ten? A hundred twenty? An' the nice one's like two grand, so be prepared t'spend a good amount'a money on this shit. 'Cause from what I've seen, short of havin' a lawyer at your disposal? Gettin' your insurance t'pay for it is like pullin' teeth without anaesthetic."

"Mm." Genji goes back to the comments, scrolling through. "Hhmm. Oh! Another one for me. May I?"

Jesse smiles and gestures towards the screen. "All yours, darlin'."

"Yosh!" Genji practically bounces in his chair. "So, this comment is from person named HikkiFan with X's around it. They said, 'sooo, this is awkward, but have Hanzo and Genji hugged it out yet?' Except with 'has' instead of 'have' and there are a lot of periods." He throws a conspiratory little smirk and a wink at the camera. "But I'll forgive you this time since you're a Hikki fan."

Jesse blinks. "Hickey?"

"Hikaru Utada."

"Ooh! That, uh, that one that did the Kingdom Hearts music."

Genji waves his arms in Jesse's direction emphatically as if to show him to the audience. "You see? This is what I have to deal with." Then he explains, "--she sang the image songs for the Kingdom Hearts games, yes, but the bulk of the music was composed by Shimomura Yoko."

"Huh. A'ight."

"As for the question," he continues, ignoring Jesse pointedly, "Hanzo doesn't like hugs, but we have reconciled. He is the one who made channel art for both myself and Jesse."

"Even got a speedpaint up on his channel'a the process. Real fancy-like."

"His taste in music to accompany said speedpaint could be better," Genji notes, before leaning back in his chair and tucking his hands behind his head. "Your turn."

Jesse scoots his chair up and sits a little straighter. "A'ight." He takes the mouse and scans over the many, many messages. "Couple'a folks think they're real clever, I bet. Got three sayin' 'first' in one video here, Christ almighty. Another sayin' 'all your base are belong to us', yeah that's original..."

Genji just gives another of his long, tired sighs. "You know, that game was actually well-written in its original language."

"Tell that to the folks that ported it the first time around."

"Comments, Jesse."

"Alright, alright, lemme look." Jesse clears his throat. " _Ahem_. Anyway. This one's from a gal named Sarah Abernathy, an' she wants t'know how long we've known each other."

"Oh really?"

"Yeap, says so right here. 'Soooo, how long have you two known each other?' Except, y'know, she's got 'each other' as one word an' there's a big ol' smiley at the end."

Genji huffs. "Two years."

"Nawww. Can't be. Really?"

"Yes. I moved to America near the end of 2014, and we met when the semester began not long after that."

Jesse grins and shoots a glance at the camera for a none-too-sneaky aside; "I let him cheat offa me. He never paid attention."

"It was _boring_ ," Genji whines. "And you weren't much better. You doodled as much as you took notes."

"At least I took notes."

"They were barely legible."

"Aaaanyhow, next question's a-- eugh."

Genji blinks as Jesse's features crinkle in distaste. "What?"

"The next comment down's one'a them 'kids these days' types. Y'know, 'other kids my age are too busy bein' shallow to appreciate _true_ humor' kinda bull."

"Haaaaah...?" That's the point where Genji pushes his scruffy boyfriend aside to look at the screen himself. " 'Ha ha I wish other kids my age appreciated humor like this, unfortunately all they care about is swag and pop music and having sex'...?" His expression pinches up in a similar look of disgust. "I don't know where to begin."

"Ayep." Jesse sighs, tapping his finger on the mouse button. "Switch it to another video's comments, maybe?"

Genji shrugs. "If you want. I would be willing to bet that the comments on your latest rant video would be interesting."

"I dunno, you sure you wanna dive into that? It got kinda heated."

"That's what makes it interesting."

Jesse gives his partner an odd look, but complies anyway after a challenge-laden stare-down. "You wanna do the honors, sweetheart?"

"Sure." Jesse's chair scoots out, and Genji shoves his own in the leftover space, taking over the mouse and keyboard. "Ecks-zor-see-... ickzorsee... heeeeeh..." Genji is not one for gibberish names. "This person says they will dissociate your dick from your body."

"That's nice." Jesse isn't impressed. "Next."

"Next there is a Fedora-six-six-six saying, 'yes sir, you are a guy who talks too much on the internet. I normally like your channel, but come on. More gaming, less SJW bullshit, you're better than this man.' " Genji looks back at Jesse. "He sounds so _pleasant_."

Jesse's response is to flip off the camera. "Don't let the door hit yer ass on the way out, bucko." His hand falls to his lap and he lets out a sigh. "Christ, where do they get these ideas? 'Better than this', my ass. I'm a queer, Native American Latino with ADHD, the fuck do y'all even expect? That I'll 'stay in my lane'? I got a lotta lanes, man, an' the ones that ain't mine are for the people I care about, so like hell I'm lettin' some prissy li'l fuck with their head up their ass tell me to shut up."

A slow smile spreads across Genji's face. He looks directly at the camera. "He's so cute when he gets angry."

"Any other bad ones?" Jesse asks. "Might as well get 'em outta the way."

"There is a message from a Rieben-thirty-four with the capslock left on saying 'first country music, now horror, for fuck's sake dudes, lighten up'. No punctuation, and the word 'country' is spelled without an O."

This only serves to annoy Jesse further. "I'll lighten up when people stop fuckin' dyin', asshole. Perpetuatin' bad attitudes gets good folks killed every damn day, an' it gets'm hurt every minute'a every day. I ain't just gonna sit here an' be a silent witness t'this shit, man." He slumps in his chair, sliding down and forward as he rubs a hand over his face. "God-damn."

Genji goes quiet for a long while, smiling fondly at the camera as Jesse rants. It's obvious from the look on his face that he loves this about Jesse-- this willingness to stand up and fight, to protect others. And even if he doesn't join in, he doesn't really give the impression that he disagrees at all, or that he's humoring his silly American's quirks. More that there's a distinct implication that he's quietly thankful.

Jesse peeks out from behind his hand. "Next," he grumbles, and Genji nods.

"Someone named 'boogle-one' says, 'I just want to say, I'm really, really grateful for what you said about this. I have DID and I cried when I saw one of those trailers.' " Jesse softens somewhat as Genji continues reading. " 'More people need to know about this stuff, you are the best.' "

"I ain't done much," Jesse murmurs. "Wish I could do more. Hopefully life treats you better'n that fuckin' movie does."

"And if it doesn't, demand to see life's manager."

Jesse snickers. "We don't want these lemons. Get it to take the lemons back."

"How are you holding up? Because I'm a potato." Genji is grinning from ear to ear now. "Next one?"

"Next one," Jesse agrees.

" 'How does Genji get his hair to do that though?' by ehrrr-that is a lot of vowels."

Jesse grins. "By takin' up half the damn bathroom with hair shit, that's how."

"Bleach then dye for the color, then gel," Genji advises. "Shampoo and conditioner beforehand, but _not_ a cheap two-in-one. Wash it out again before bed to avoid damage, re-gel after a shower the next morning, and so on. Repeat the dye every month or so to maintain color without destroying your hair."

"Magic, I tell ya."

"Anything about hygeine is magic to you," Genji notes, getting a shrug in reply; he rolls his eyes and returns to the comments section. "And finally, someone named 'snorkel's revenge' with an underscore says, 'I _wann_ see you and _geng_ play a horror game now'. The 'see' is the letter C, the 'you' is the letter U, the 'and' is an N, and I think 'geng' is me. I'm not even going to start on the 'wann'."

"Geng," Jesse repeats, deadpan.

"It says 'geng', yes."

"He wants to see us play a horror game, Geng."

"You're going to call me that all day, aren't you."

"It's the will of the vengeful snorkel, Geng, I ain't questionin' it."

"A vengeful snorkel that can't spell!"

" _Geng_ ," Jesse says again, like he's testing the shape of the non-word with his mouth.

"I hate you so much."

"Love you too, Geng."

The video fades to outro with Genji twisting in his chair to try and smack Jesse in the face with a crutch and Jesse giggling like an idiot as he ducks and tries to bat it away. True love, folks.

 


	7. [thank you: a remix]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo puts together a tribute for Genji's found family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS FEELSY YOU GUYS I WROTE IT IN LIKE THREE HOURS AND I'VE BEEN DEBATING POSTING IT ALL DAY
> 
> Y'all wanted to know what happened to Genji, here it is.

Two videos are uploaded on the same day, on different channels that sell themselves using different methods. One is on Jesse's channel, titled [100K THANK YOU!!!]. The other is on Genji's channel, and it's titled [a message of thanks]. What few viewers have subscribed to both channels at once notice that the videos are strikingly similar in content; the even smaller number that have some editing skill try to throw the two videos together with varying degrees of success.

Only one goes viral among both their respective fanbases: the one edited together by a tutorial artist and occasional animator with the screenname SimpleGeometry. It opens on side-by-side shots of Genji and Jesse settling into their respective chairs, likely after adjusting their webcams. Genji is wearing a moss green v-neck shirt with three-quarter sleeves; Jesse is in one of his many flannel shirts with a black tee underneath and a white Inquisition emblem peeking through.

Cut to Genji. "Ohayo, minna-san," he greets, smiling. "Hisashiburi."

Then, to Jesse. "Howdy folks," he says with a smirk and a lazy two-fingered salute.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Genji chirps. He looks so tired. "Since I've done a vlog, at any rate. I'm sorry it took so long."

"Hot damn," Jesse mutters as he leans back in his chair. "A hundred thousand. I ain't got no silver button to show you guys yet but damn. _Damn_. Here I was thinkin' we had it made when we hit a hundred, or even a thousand."

Genji ducks his head in apology. "I feel bad, not being able to reply to all of your comments. I wish I had time for it like I used to - I still read them, at least - but there are so many." He sighs, smiles wistfully. "You are all so kind to me. I can't thank you enough."

"Y'all are fuckin' amazing, y'know that?" Jesse's head thumps back against the headrest of his chair. "I ain't had t' worry about whether I'll be capable'a payin' rent in months thanks t'you folks, an' that's sayin' somethin' what with me bein' a pesky millenial that never finished school properly."

"It's hard, sometimes, for me to convince myself that I am not useless. Harder still when so few people take this--" Genji gestures to the camera, then the room around him; a plain painter's beige living room with a broken-down couch, non-matching end tables, and a kitchen beyond that with view over the countertop and mismatched barstools next to it, "-- _this_ , this life, the least bit seriously. But you..." Genji pauses, his gaze falling to his lap.

"Ain't never been this well off, t'be honest," Jesse says, half to himself.

"--you have all helped me to see what I'm worth, almost as much as Jesse has."

Both fall silent, the side-by-side view returning to show the contrast; Jesse rocking to and fro in his chair in front of a backdrop of cheap soundproofing foam, tapping his fingers on the desk, and Genji frowning at his lap.

"It can be difficult to admit that you need more than what you're capable of on your own," Genji says finally.

Jesse sits up in what seems like a burst of motion, scooting his chair forward and taking a breath. "Two years ago, if you'da told me I'd be doin' Youtube for a livin', I'da laughed in your face. Then again, two years ago I would'na thought I'd drop outta school for the second time for the sake'a someone else either. Hell, past-me would prob'ly sock a person right in the jaw if they even suggested it."

"When I lived with my family, I wanted nothing more than to be rid of them. I wanted to strike out on my own, be my own person." Genji isn't even looking at the camera anymore. He might be fidgeting in his lap, but his hands aren't visible; he looks almost completely still. "I loved moving to America. Once I had, I didn't want to leave."

"But then Genji happened, didn't he?" Jesse gets a soft, fond smile on his face. "How could anybody not be sweet on that pretty li'l thing? All cocky too, ridin' around on that bright green Kawasaki rice-burner'a his, ditchin' classes, hookin' up left an' right with damn near every eligible person on campus. Even stole my notes sometimes, the brat."

"People here didn't care who I was back there. My name meant nothing to them. I had friends, and they were my friends because they wanted to be, not because they wanted money or influence." Genji lets out a slow breath through his nose. "But my family didn't care about any of that, and tried to force me to return."

"I ain't too sure on the details," Jesse drawls, "but one night when we're supposed t' meet up for a gamin' session, he doesn't show. Not even a text, sayin' he's cancelled or somethin'. I figure, well, looks like I been ditched. It ain't the first time, so I decide I ain't too bothered by it an' start workin' on how I'll keep him from over-exertin' himself tryin'a apologize this time around 'cause he ain't never been good at this emotional junk."

"There was an accident," Genji says, his voice quiet and small. "I wish I could say I don't remember much."

"Four in the goddamn morning, I get a call from his brother: Genji's hurt, it's bad, I'm sorry. An' I kinda just, I'm on autopilot. Already grabbin' my keys, halfway out the door. I stay on the line just long enough t'know where he's at and then I'm outta there."

"I lost count of how many times I woke to the sight of Jesse being there at my bedside." Genji stifles a faint laugh behind his hand; it puts the scarring and skin grafts on his arm on very brief display, up to where it disappears under his sleeve. "He even broke in once just to see me outside of visiting hours. Up to that point I had never quite believed him when he said he'd been in a gang."

"Surgeries, therapies, treatments, prescriptions, follow-ups, x-rays, scans," Jesse lists off the aspects of Genji's recovery as he counts them out on his fingers. "Talkin' with insurance, talkin' with lawyers. An' through all that he keeps askin' me, _why are you still here?_ Took me a long damn time t'work up the guts t'tell him it's 'cause I been in love with his ass since day one."

"My family wanted me to come back to Japan. They said they would take care of me. I told Jesse, and he said to me, _like hell they will_. And he was right: they would keep me, but they would not care." Genji sniffs, wipes at his nose. "I said I would only be a burden and he told me, _never_. He was right about that, too."

"I spent ages tryin'a think of somethin' he liked doin' that wouldn't make him hurt worse'n he already was. Somethin' flexible that ain't gonna get in the way'a his appointments or meds, somethin' easy that he can do even when he's fresh outta physical therapy an' he ain't walkin' too good, somethin' that can be done from home. He needed somethin', anythin'. I wasn't gonna let him spend the rest of his life thinkin' he was too damn broken to make anythin' of himself."

"He was the one who came up with the idea for this channel," Genji admits. "He noticed how much time and effort I put into cosmetics, and he suggested I could teach others how to do the same. I never thought so many people would be interested in such a simple thing, but here we are at nearly sixty thousand people who follow this channel. Almost sixty thousand people that I've helped."

"So that's when I got t' thinkin', what about games?" Jesse rocks back in his chair precariously. "Sure, I ain't been much of a gamer up until recently - let's be honest, I ain't never had the kinda disposable income t'do more'n play on other folks' consoles up t' this point - but Genji got me into it for real when we were in college an' I ain't never looked back. He's the one that said he oughta record me sometime, said I was real funny to watch 'cause I was so bad, so that's what I did-- I started recordin', an' so did he. Used it as a li'l incentive for a bit'a crowdfundin'." Jesse grins and holds his arms out. It's a miracle he doesn't fall out of his chair. "An' hot _damn_ did y'all ever come through for us."

"I may have found a new home with Jesse, but it was with all of you that I found I had a much better family waiting for me," Genji says with a shaky smile. "I cannot thank you all enough for the kindness you have shown us."

"Y'all've helped him more'n I have, I think," Jesse muses, "an' by doin' that, you've helped me out a whole bunch too. 'Cause uh, just 'cause I'd move heaven n'earth for the sake'a that pretty li'l smile'a his doesn't mean I actually had a plan for makin' it happen. So, y'know." He shrugs, offers the camera a smirk. "Thanks, y'all."

Genji bows his head again. "Still, I thank you." Then he purses his lips in a smirk and looks up to say, "So, as Jesse would say: be good to each other, won't you?"

"An' as Genji would put it..." Jesse leans in real close to the camera and winks. "Mata ashita."

The video fades out on Jesse blowing a kiss to the audience like Genji tends to in his videos, with a final frame before the outro being a black screen with [ _thank you._ ] written in white in the bottom-right corner, done in a sketchy font. The outro card itself is silent, providing annotation links to both their videos as well as the channel responsible for making the edit.

For once, Hanzo doesn't disable his video's comment section.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things that didn't get brought up in-story:   
> \--Unlike a lot of other people in Genji's life, Jesse never made Genji feel like the accident was his fault. Yes, Genji was driving recklessly because he was upset by an argument he'd had with his brother/family back home, but he's a good driver who's no stranger to driving while distracted, so that definitely wasn't the only factor. Besides that, it's just plain uncalled for in Jesse's mind; you don't make fun of people who're hurting that bad, no matter the circumstances. They probably blame themselves more than anybody else ever could anyways.  
> \--Gabriel helped them at first, but both of them are too proud to be able to stand leaning on him for very long. He didn't like that Jesse dropped out of college, but he respected it and understood why; he'll support his silly cowboy son no matter what.  
> \--The scarring on Genji's arms, as well as the scarring on his face that he covers by caking on make-up (which he then shows to other people to teach them how to do the same), was caused by him hitting the pavement at a high velocity and bringing his arms up to shield himself. The rest of his injuries were mostly caused by the impact and other drivers not stopping in time.   
> \--Jesse has ADHD; he dropped out of high school, and didn't get his GED until Gabriel picked him up much later. Dropping out of college was secretly a relief even if it was a blow to his pride at first, since he had to work so damn hard just to get in. But he loves Genji to pieces, and anything is worth doing if it's for his sake.  
> \--Genji would not have stayed if he didn't love Jesse back, and he does - for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with how Jesse helped him, and a handful that tie into it quite closely - but Jesse would have helped him even if he hadn't wanted to stick around afterward. That's just the kind of person Jesse is, somewhere between "well SOMEONE has to" and "I can't just sit here and watch".  
> \--Hanzo blames himself and wishes he could have been a better brother. Even though Genji has been technically cut off from family funds and aid after refusing it, Hanzo still funnels Shimada profits quietly into Genji's donation page. It's the least he can do.  
> \--Jesse knows Genji is (former) yakuza. So does Gabriel. But considering Jesse is a former gang member himself and Gabriel is former black ops, neither of them is especially bothered by it. 
> 
> Still got questions? Lemme know and I'll answer 'em.


	8. [game time: slime rancher, pt 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse knows exactly how to make Genji feel better after a tiring day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Genji's always tired and grumpy after he gets back from physical therapy. Poor babby. 
> 
> I figure Slime Rancher is the cutest thing I could have them play to balance out the feels from last time. And if you don't know what Slime Rancher is, you should definitely check it out, it's a little indie project on Steam and it's super good for when you've got anxiety or you're stressy. Everything about it is adorable.

"Howdy folks! I'm Jesse, an' this here's my gorgeous boyfriend Genji--"

"Konbanwa," Genji says, stifling a yawn. He adjusts himself in his seat with a wince; today is a wheelchair day for him.

"--an' today we'll be playin' a gift from one'a my buddies on Steam - shoutout to TimeLadyLena, thanks for the gift, darlin' - called Slime Rancher." Jesse claps his hands together, rubs them with a grin. "Now I ain't never played this, but I've watched other folks do it. Genji here's goin' in blind though, an' if it's alright with you folks, I think I might let him have a go at it this time."

"Heeeehhh?" Genji squints as Jesse scoots his chair back. "You didn't tell me I would be playing."

Jesse shrugs. "Long day, right? From what I've seen, this game's pretty good at helpin' ya relax."

"Is it now?" Rolling his chair forward, Genji situates himself in front of the computer with a crick of his neck. He's still looking at Jesse out of the corner of his eye. " 'Slime Rancher', you said?"

"Yeap."

"Get me a drink and I'll do it."

Jesse's quick to pop out of his chair, heading off. "Can do." He disappears from view.

Genji waits until his silly cowboy is out of sight to look at the camera and offer a smile. "He's cute when he fusses, isn't he?" The shared moment with the audience passes quickly, however, and he leans forward to take the mouse and (presumably) open the game as the facecam shrinks to the upper left corner of the screen.

The game itself opens on an options menu overlaid on top of a scene set in a rust-colored, stylized sort of canyon. And in the canyon there are a number of stylized blob-creatures, all with varying features that include (but are not limited to): stripes and cat ears, a sickly green glow with yellow eyes, being Very Pink, and being blue with a bunch of rocks sticking out.

Genji's response to seeing this is to coo at the screen. One of the blobs bounces up and laughs; he gasps at the sight. "Aaww..." he whispers.

He is smitten.

When Jesse returns, Genji is practically bouncing in his seat. "Jesse. Ne, ne Jesse. Look!"

Jesse chuckles as he hands Genji his can of Coke, the box in his other hand. He sets it down next to his chair when he settles back down again. "I believe ya, sweetheart."

"There's a cat! And they make sounds!"

"Mmhm."

"Look at them!" Genji points to the screen as one of the blobs bounces again. "They're so cute."

"So start up a save an' get t' playin' with 'em," Jesse tells him.

He gasps. "You're right." Clicking the new game option, he's quick to type in his own name as the screenname for the save. No corruptions of it this time; he's not making that mistake again. Jesse didn't let him live it down for at least three videos afterward.

Jesse leans back in his seat, throwing one leg over the other and pulling out a drink of his own from the box. He watches as Genji proceeds through the tutorial, popping the can open and taking a slow sip. "Need tips, just lemme know."

"I can read, Jesse," Genji huffs. Jesse just shrugs. "Left click to shoot, right click to suck things up to shoot. Shift to sprint."

"Space to jump and jetpack."

He gasps. "There's a _jetpack_?"

"Yep."

"How do I get it?"

"Gotta buy it."

"How do I get money?"

"By collectin' the slimes' shit," Jesse says over the top of can as he sips at it; Genji's head jerks back to stare at him.

"You're kidding."

"I ain't kiddin', that's how the game works. Get slimes, feed slimes, collect slime shit, sell slime shit, profit, buy jetpack."

Genji whines as he turns back to the game. "It seemed so cute, too."

"Still a cute game, babe. I mean, it ain't like the game calls it slime shit." Jesse continues as Genji pauses to open his own drink. "Called 'plorps' or somethin'."

Genji glances at the screen, pulls up the in-game encyclopedia from a menu. "Plorts," he corrects. Still pouting, but somewhat satisfied by that answer. "How do I get slimes-- oh! Is that one?" He sets his drink down; there's a pink bouncing blob off in the distance.

Jesse nods. "Yup. Go get it, babe."

The slime makes a little 'whoa!' noise as it's sucked into Genji's gun-thing. Genji melts a little. "Ohhhh..." He shoots it back out of the gun and it makes another noise; he gasps.

Jesse just smiles in the background as Genji does this several times in a row just to make the slime make noise. "Havin' fun yet?"

"Yes." That was a quick answer. "Where do I put it to make it start shitting money?"

"Well, they'll do that no matter where they are. But it's easier t'keep 'em contained if you got a corral."

"And then I'll get money for the jetpack?"

"If you keep 'em fed, sure."

"How do I feed them?"

"Find food, shoot it at their faces."

"Ah." Genji abandons the slime in favor of finding food. He chases down a chicken, picks it up with the suck-gun, then runs back to the pink blob to shoot the chicken at its face. "Ohhh, so it does it instantly!" he notes as the slime immediately swallows the chicken whole and poops up a diamond-shaped pink thing about a second later with a soft _ploink_.

Jesse grins and lowers his voice as he chimes in with "fatality."

"Finish him," Genji adds in a similar tone, lips pursed. He sucks up the pink diamond thing in his gun, but also accidentally ends up sucking in the slime along with it and hisses what sounds like a curse (just not a curse in English). "How do I-- oh, I can switch slots." He shoots the slime back out again. "What do I do with the slime shit?"

"Toss it in the machine by the house."

"Hnnn..." Genji heads in that direction. It takes him a couple of tries to get used to aiming the plort at the machine's intake slot before he actually gets it in there and manages to get his first bit of coin for his trouble; not more than a few units of currency, really. Little enough for Genji to crinkle his nose at the amount. "How much of this do I have to do?"

Jesse heaves a long sigh, adjusting himself in his chair. "A lot," he admits. "Jetpack costs about five hundred if I remember right. You should probably head out down the valley'n get more slimes t'make it easier."

"Can I get one of the cat ones?"

"You can have all the kitty slimes you want, hun."

This delights Genji. And so does damn near everything about the rest of the game for almost the entirety of their first session. Even the bloodthirsty bits.

What a couple of weird little nerds they are.

 


	9. [monday rant: animation]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse has the attention span of a hummingbird. In other news, water is wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not keep this noodle on topic for the life of me. The make-up chapter has to wait until I watch some make-up tutorials myself because I don't know shit about make-up.
> 
> Genji has banned Jesse from talking about politics directly. Thus Jesse talks about whatever's on his brain, and what's on his brain is that he just watched Voltron and it was kinda lame all things considered, so he's going to examine why and how. Except he's not good at keeping a train of thought for very long so he's just going to babble at length about vaguely related things until he runs out of things to say or forgets what he was thinking about and gets hungry. It's not quite clear what he was trying to say to begin with, but he has a lot of scattered thoughts and he's going to say them.

"Howdy folks, it's Monday again and y'all know what that means: another rant."

Jesse beams at the camera, in a much better mood than the week prior. He's wearing an undone, loose, dark grey button-down over the top of a white shirt with the Andromeda Initiative logo in blue (someone's chomping at the bit for the next Mass Effect game). The music in the background is from the Paprika soundtrack; a track called "A Drop Filled With Memories", soft and flowy at a low volume.

"Now as much as I'd like to talk about you-know-what, Genji's kinda banned me from discussin' it on the channel, so we're gonna avoid the puckered tangerine-lookin' elephant in the room an' talk about somethin' a lil' bit more calm: animation." The word _animation_ scrolls onto the bottom of the screen as Jesse steeples his fingers in front of him, tapping them against his chin. "Specifically, we're gonna talk about the differences between what you find in Japan an' what you find here in the US and Canada."

His chair spins 'round, and he tips his head back with a sigh to stare at the ceiling.

"Now I know what you're thinkin', an' first off, if y'all so much as think about sayin' what you're thinkin', I'm gonna delete those comments _so_ fuckin' hard. This ain't about which is better or worse, it ain't about bein' a fanboy, an' it ain't an invitation t'get all opinionated in my comments section."

It's worth noting that not even five hours after posting, the comment section got turned off; a note in the description mentions this.

Edit: I turned off the comments for Jesse's health. He got so angry that he punched the fridge. The fridge won. I hope you're all satisfied now. -G

No indication of that fridge-punching anger exists in his video, however, as he looks perfectly animated and chipper even when he takes on a warning tone for the sake of assholes. Whatever comments caused such an outburst, they're gone now, and the world is probably better for it.

"So, animation here in the west is often seen as a kids' thing. An' when it ain't, it's often kinda... Offensive? With exceptions like Futurama'n shit, any quote-unquote 'adult' show is usually gonna both be godawful an' on the receivin' end'a some high praise for 'breakin' the mold'. This's because anything that ain't Never Say Die kids' shows just ain't gonna get that much attention from producers over here. Which means that either way, if you say you like animation or wanna get into it, you're gonna be seen as childish somehow."

Jesse spins back around to face the camera, tapping his fingers together.

"Which means that when we ain't in the mood for Steven Universe, an' we really ain't all that into Sausage Party an' Family Guy humor, but at the same time we're starved for shit like the Boondocks an' Korra, we turn to anime. We see it as the mature alternative, with a wider variety'a narratives an' stories an' ideas."

One hand balls into a fist, and with the other he points a single finger upward at the ceiling, wagging it.

"'Cept that ain't how it's seen over across the water," he says. "In spite of it bein' an industry, it's fuckin' exploitative as shit. Think of how the video games industry works over here, 'cause that's about where Japan's at with anime. Budgets can be huge, production values can be high, actors can be trained an' talented as all hell, but old man Hideki up the street's still gonna call you a fuckin' loser an' tell you to get a life if you tell him you're into it."

Jesse leans forward, resting his elbows against his desk. He rocks back in forth in his chair, idle and unthinking.

"Now, a lot more people in Japan are into it than will care to admit it. Just like games here, anime's so broad a category that you got a lotta casual consumers an' a lotta ways it's wormed its way into the public consciousness that people don't even realize. Beyond that, you got a whole generation'a kids that've been raised on this shit that're part'a society now, silent consumers that ain't the moral majority or the vocal otaku minority. Some'a those folks are even makin' the same stuff now they use'ta dick around with after school growin' up, just like with games here."

A hand comes up and he leans his chin against his palm, humming thoughtfully as his fingers tap against his face.

"Thing about it still bein' considered a fuckin' joke, though, is that a lot'a folks don't try to get it taken seriously, 'cause the serious shit don't sell half the time-- there ain't as much of a market, 'cause people who want serious shit are seen as a niche within the community, and a helluva stretch to try an' sell to outside of it. So you end up with a whole bunch'a chaff 'cause it's what executives think the consumer wants, an' people on the outside see that and think that's all there is, which strangles the market share and kills interest with potential new fans."

Jesse sighs.

"And then there's the fanboys."

From the way he rolls his eyes, this is a particular bugbear of his.

"Look, if you like somethin', you like somethin'. But there's this chunk'a the market - often the most vocal ones - that shrieks anytime you try somethin' new to get taken more seriously as a medium an' not look so backward. They call it PC, they call it panderin', they do all kinds'a shit to block it an' make sure it don't get to market an' make it look like it won't sell so the producers'll play hot potato with it 'til it dies."

Jesse lifts his head from his hand long enough to ball up a fist and punch into his palm to emphasize his statement.

"When it does get to market, an' gets praised for its successes? Its flaws get focused on an' get it demonized even within the community it's appealin' to. It gets remembered not as itself, but as the vultures that swooped in afterward to steal its thunder in frequently miserable'n painful ways. Or as the fandom that sprung up around it, bringin' all the weird shit along with from other fandoms that encouraged said weird shit before, even if the source material ain't got none'a that."

He spaces out for a second, annoyed and wrapped in his own thoughts. When he comes back to himself, he shakes his head with an irate huff.

"Anyway, got off topic. How's this relate to western animation, you ask?" He leans back, crosses his legs, taps one foot. "It relates 'cause even in spite'a all that bullshit, anime's still got us beat on the sheer variety'a things it gets away with coverin'. 'Cause you get shit that ain't supervised quite tightly enough or studios that actually care, an' you end up with things like Yuri on Ice, or Revolutionary Girl Utena. You get the ladies of the CLAMP doujin circle sneakin' in gay moments left an' right, or the original dub of Sailor Moon, holy shit. Or... or even things that ain't gay, and are just plain good an' weird an' original! Watch _anythin'_ by Satoshi Kon, man, or Ghost in the Shell, or like..."

Jesse has to trail off to take a breath and think, chewing at his lip.

"Okay, as an example. There's literally an anime about a schoolgirl who's God, alright. An' she can't know that she's God otherwise she'll probably blow up the universe outta sheer boredom. She's somehow managed to surround herself with an alien robot, a time traveller, and a fuckin' psychic. All out of a subconscious desire to not be bored." Jesse points at the camera. "See? _See?_ You hear that an' you wanna watch the shit outta that. It ain't a story for kids, it ain't a story for dudebros. It's just a fuckin' wild-ass story."

He flings his hands up, then plops them back down in his lap for a moment. Just a moment, though; he's back to waving them around and gesturing as he speaks after not very long at all.

"Or, or. Genji showed me this one thing, right? Giant mecha, except when the robots combine they're powered by _orgasms_. It didn't make a lick'a sense an' I think I want a few hours'a my life back but _damn_ , that's sure as hell creative, ain't it? I think one fella was the reincarnation of some dead guy's dog or somethin', it was just... I dunno, I was real confused by the end. Mighta just been too deep for me, though."

Most people are confused by Sousei no Aquarion, Jesse.

"Point is, it's more than just kids' shows an' porn, even if you gotta sort through a lotta fanservicey bullshit an' sexism to get to the good bits. An' western animation's so dang afraid'a breakin' new ground for the most part that it ends up as nothin' _but_ fanservicey bullshit, sexism, an' kids' shows, aside from your occasional Voltron or whatever which is still a fanservicey kids' show at heart. An' usually the few good mature shows are made by the same handful'a folks, so they're still kinda limited just by virtue'a how much time there is in a day for a small amount'a people to make up for such a huge gap in the market. We're more conscientious, prob'ly a lil' more progressive, but we're playin' catch-up just by sheer volume alone so we ain't had the time nor space t'show whether we're better or worse."

He sighs, shrugs, flops his head back against the headrest of his chair as he blows a quiet raspberry. Soon enough, he returns to chair-spinning.

"God-damn, I got no idea where I was goin' with this," Jesse mumbles after a while. "I had an idea, but then I lost it. I think I said everythin' that I wanted t'say, but I ain't real sure 'cause I don't really script these things." He hums thoughtfully. "Maybe I shoulda ate somethin' before I started talkin' y'all's ears off." He trails off, brows furrowing. "Wonder if there's any leftovers in the fridge."

With that, he gets up out of his chair and wanders off. The shot lingers on his empty chair for a while, fading out as the music does; it blinks out to the end titles after a few seconds of said lingering.

The end card has a continuing feed of his empty chair in the upper right corner. Near the end he comes back to his chair, sitting back down with a plate piled high with entirely too many hot pockets. He can be seen setting it down on his desk, rubbing his hands together. The final few frames see him getting a slightly confused look on his face with a mumble of "did I do an outro?" as the video ends.

Jesse is obviously a man who has his shit together.

 


	10. [game time: dragon age inquisition, pt. 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Genji's turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! Life's been really hectic and annoying and I've just been. So exhausted. I've had this partially finished for ages but only just now managed to finally polish it up and post it. 
> 
> Imagine what Genji would do with a Saint's Row 4 CC, jesus.

The video starts with a cold open from later on: in the upper right corner, the facecam has Jesse leaned forward so that his face is planted in his folded arms, his shoulders shaking with a fit of giggles, as Genji practically _beams_ while glancing between the camera and his boyfriend. Meanwhile, the screen is focused on what is apparently a tense dialogue moment, with a wheel at the bottom providing multiple options. But the character on screen is a Dalish elf with massive eyes, a physically impossible sort of tiny button nose, a jawline and cheekbones so sharp they could cut glass, black hair that's long on one side and shaved on the other, obscene amounts of all available sorts of make-up, a mess of the most absurd scarring available, and a tattoo covering half his(?) face. Everything that can be made bright fucking green with a color picker has been made bright fucking green with a color picker.

So far, the moral of the story seems to be that Genji should not be allowed to have access to a character creator.

It flicks back to the _actual_ opening a few seconds later. "Hello, everyone!" Genji greets the camera brightly, waving. He's sitting at Jesse's desk with his crutches leaned against it; Jesse is next to him with his chin resting on his hand, looking tired and out of it. His right hand is wrapped up in a thick cast that's clearly been doodled on by an overly enthusiastic bunch of friends and family (and also Genji). The music in the background is an entirely too perky instrumental version of the song "Hare Hare Yukai", probably picked by Genji. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"S'been a day, darlin'," Jesse tells him.

Genji pouts. "But it's been at least three days since I've been in a video."

"Mmh," comes the mumbled reply. "Details."

Excited, Genji bounces in his seat and scoots forward to look at the camera. "Anyway," he begins, "there has been a change in plans. Jesse broke his hand, which means that - starting now - I will be doing most of the gameplay and editing for his videos until he heals."

"Sorry in advance for his music choices, folks," Jesse adds.

"If you didn't hurt yourself getting into fights with household objects then you wouldn't have to worry about my music offending your followers," Genji says far-too-sweetly; Jesse just rolls his eyes with a quiet little snort and a shake of his head.

"Either way," the scruffier of the two continues, "we're gonna be pickin' up the slack with a few long-playin' things that Genji's been meanin' to get to for a while now. An' since Andromeda's comin' up, I figured we'd get him good'n familiar with how Bioware does things these days with a run through Inquisition."

Genji huffs. "If there ends up being another situation like the one on Virmire in that first Mass Effect game, you _will_ be banished to the couch."

"Uhhh..." Jesse tries to feign innocence and fails, earning a glare for the attempt. He smiles without sincerity. "Um, don't date Iron Bull?"

" _Jesse_."

"Hey, at least this time you get fair warnin' about it. Gabriel did it a while back an' I didn't hear the end of it for a month." He pauses. "Also, don't date Solas. Though that ain't really a problem so much if you're not playin' a girl, so..."

Genji whines. "Why must they always do that."

"Do what? Gender-lock the romances?"

"Yes, that." He puffs and folds his arms. "Fallout let me kiss whoever I wanted. At the same time, if I wanted to."

"Except Nick Valentine."

"Yes. And X6."

Jesse glances at the camera to add, "Genji did an Institute playthrough. He wanted all the neat shiny robot gear."

"It was awful! The gear wasn't even good!" Another pout from Genji. "That's why I've decided I'm going to be a good person in this game. Or try to. I was a good person in Mass Effect and it got me a blue alien, so I'm going to be a good person in this and hope it gets me... Something." He turns to peer at Jesse. "What are my options?"

"Uhhh, depends. Two ladies, two guys, I think? Cassandra, Josie, Dorian, an' Bull." Jesse smirks. "I like Dorian, myself."

"And this Bull is one of the ones I _shouldn't_ go for?"

"If you're a prick it'll come back t' bite you in the ass, but otherwise he's solid. Chill, pragmatic, likes bondage."

"Ooh."

"Comes with handlebars."

" _Ooh!_ " Now curious, Genji pulls out his phone. "I'm looking this up. What's his name again?"

"Iron Bull."

" 'Inquisition iron bull...' Got it." Genji blinks at the picture that comes up on his phone for all of a second before he gets this huge, lecherous grin. "I like him." Bringing his phone up, he holds it out to the camera for the audience to see (instead of finding a picture in the recording like a normal person): a very large, very buff fellow with slate-grey skin, an eyepatch, hella scars, and horns like a longhorn steer. _Iron Bull_ indeed. "This one. Definitely."

Jesse sighs wistfully. "I'm bein' abandoned for a cow-mountain."

"At least you're not being abandoned for a porn star moustache," Genji notes as he cycles through the options on his phone. " 'Dorian'? Isn't that the one you recommended?"

"It was either pornstache or deal with the knowledge that I banged the same one Gabriel did."

"Oh, that's true. Tell him he has good tastes." The phone's put down, and Genji returns to the computer; the facecam transitions into its proper place in the corner of the screen, revealing a menu screen with what looks to be an army marching into the distance. "Anyway," he says, "new game?"

"New game," Jesse agrees.

Genji clicks it, then gasps as the marching army appears to be swallowed up by a massive green explosion before it transitions to the basics of character creation. "Wow."

"Ain't it neat?" Like any other day that Genji has the helm, Jesse looks absolutely smitten. "Aight, now what do you wanna be?"

"Hnnn." Cycling through the options, Genji settles on the male elf. "That one."

Jesse nods sagely, then says, "Rogue, mage, warrior...?"

"Rogue. Ooh, there's two of them." A pause. "No, not bows. Daggers?"

"Your call, sweetheart."

"Daggers," Genji confirms. The next screen gives him pause. "It wants a backstory. Do you have one loaded?"

Jesse puffs his chest out proudly. "Already put one together for ya in the Keep, sweetheart. Go with the one I got loaded in. Best I could make it."

With a glance at the camera, Genji adds as everything loads, "Jesse's usually good about these things. If he says he made a backstory for me, he probably isn't lying."

"These things're important, sweetheart. I ain't gonna shoot you in the foot right out the gate."

"I would do it to you."

"Yeah, but that's you." After that, the screen moves into character creation. The ever-so-badly-lit Dragon Age: Inquisition character creation. "Aight, make your character. An' remember, this ain't first person. You gotta look at this fella during cutscenes."

"Mm," Genji agrees. "So I have to make him look like something I don't mind looking at."

"You can change it later, but it ain't 'til much, _much_ later. Gotta get through the intro as whatever you make your character look like here."

"Uh-huh..." Doesn't seem like Genji's listening. He's already going through options, tweaking, poking the UI, playing with sliders. When he gets to the make-up options, he gasps in sheer delight. "I can pick colors!"

Jesse smiles. "Hell yeah you can, darlin'."

"I'm going to make everything green."

The smile fades a little, and then it turns into something like horror as Genji tweaks the options. "Uhh... Maybe not _that_ green?"

"Hush," Genji tells him. Things get ever more absurd as the minutes wear on. There's so much green. Green blush, green eyeshadow, green eyeliner, green lipstick, green lip liner, green eyes, green tattoos. Jesse visibly cycles through multiple emotions as his boyfriend continues, watching the spectacle unfold.

When they get to the facial features, Jesse's expression has settled into bland resignation. "So, uh," he begins, clearing his throat, "what are you gonna name this, uhh... Handsome fella?"

"Mm... I don't know." Genji tweaks the nose ever smaller as he contemplates. "I might call Hanzo and show him so I can name it after the noise he makes when he sees it."

"Now there's a thought."

They do it on air, and thus Inquisitor Pppthpht Lavellan is born.

 


End file.
